Get Hard

UK Release Date: 27th March 2015

When millionaire James King is jailed for fraud and bound for San Quentin, he turns to Darnell Lewis to prep him to go behind bars (www.imdb.com).

Director: Etan Cohen

Starring: Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, Craig T. Nelson, Alison Brie

Get Hard is ridiculous and absurd in every sense. Cliches and stereotypes consume this comedy, relying on class, light racism and dick jokes just to squander a feeble laugh. Will Ferell's James King, a stock-broker at a finance company is the 'upper-class white man', wrongly accused of fraud. He seeks the help of Darnell (Kevin Hart), the 'lower-class black man' who owns the car washing company at the bottom of the same building. Believing Darnell to have served some jail time in his life, James asks Darnell to teach him how to 'get hard', so he can handle himself in prison. See where this is going already? Their backgrounds open up a film's worth of cannon fodder, purposefully setting us up to pity those who don't deserve to be. Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell's background and class differences aren't taken advantage of. Darnell asks James to start a fight in the park, but when he fails to prove his muscle, he resorts to other, cringe-worthy means. The script doesn't live up to the talents of both actors, they struggle to click unlike Ferrell and Wahlberg in The Other Guys, or Hart and Gad in The Wedding Ringer. The laughs rely heavily on what's said. Ferrell has gotten rusty with his style of humour and Hart puts the performance in but a poor script holds him back.

2/5